![Off the Leash](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130105054905im_/http://blu.stb.s-msn.com/i/7A/192CE5CDD776ACF9F5F2483DAD19CA.gif)
A bird listening to a birdsong may experience some of the same emotion a human being would, study suggests.
When birds hear a birdsong, their brains show activity that’s similar to what’s seen in humans when they listen to music, according to a new study.
“We found that the same neural reward system is activated in female birds in the breeding state that are listening to male birdsong, and in people listening to music that they like,” said Sarah Earp, an undergraduate student at Emory University in Atlanta, who co-authored the study.
Let’s be honest: they’re so funny-looking, they’re cute!
Two puggles were born to 4-year-old moms Mila and Chindi, who were both bred and born at the zoo. They were named Babbin and Nyingarm.
“Until now, it was believed female echidnas did not breed until the age of five so these latest births have shed new light on echidna reproduction,” said Environment Minister Bill Marmion.
After eight days in tree, lucky kitty lands on her feet.
A 2-year-old kitty in Marion, Mass., has had a harrowing start to the new year. Firefighters tried three times to rescue her from the tree that she’d been stuck in for eight days before she fell 80 feet from her perch on Sunday — and then took off into the brush.
Pam Robinson, founder of a local pet shelter called It's All About the Animals, finally caught her on Tuesday, named her Fortunate, and brought her to the Marion Animal Hospital to be checked out.
"I don't see anything wrong with this cat; it's unbelievable," said veterinarian Dr. Rachel Francis, who examined her.
A new pup for Christmas? Priceless.
Philip Michaels couldn’t have asked for a better reaction when he brought a puppy home from a shelter for his father for Christmas.
Michaels writes on YouTube that his dad was heartbroken when the family’s 15-year-old Maltese died about six months ago. With Christmas around the corner, Michaels and his mother returned to the same place where they adopted their last dog, and there they found a Havanese-Maltese mix puppy.
Rescued pachyderm gives birth.
Mbali, one of 11 elephants rescued from a Swaziland, Africa, park nearly a decade ago, became a mom for the first time at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo just before Christmas.
Stray kitty is dog’s best friend.
Pwditat seemed to know Terfel could use his help. The cat showed up at Judy Godfrey-Brown's door in Wales four years ago, and headed straight for her 8-year-old dog, who had lost his sight due to cataracts.
"He ignored everybody and went straight for my blind dog and started loving him," Godfrey-Brown told People.
"He realized something was different about the dog” and wanted to help.
The team of trained dogs were on the scene shortly after the devastating shooting.
Ten golden retrievers from the Chicago-based Lutheran Church Charities’ K-9 Parish Comfort Dogs team, who brought much-needed smiles to children in Newtown, Conn., in the immediate aftermath of the school shooting there, will make the 900-mile trip again next week.
The dogs and their handlers plan to leave Chicago early on New Year’s Day to be there when schools open on Tuesday.
“Christmas miracle” for 7 year old.
When a thief unhooked her dog’s leash from outside a Manhattan shop and took off with him on the day before Christmas, little Mia Bendray was devastated. But on Christmas Day, her wish came true, and she was reunited with her beloved cavalier King Charles spaniel, Marley — thanks to a Good Samaritan.
Tina Cohen, a high school teacher, saw a man in a park trying to sell a dog on Christmas Day.
"I said that's not right,” she said.